The story of the invasion of the Jewish homeland by colonizing empires and the consequent exile of the Jewish people in Babylon is retold through the lens of Coast Salish culture and their displacement from traditional territory.
“An Old Song in a New Land” tells the story of the dispossession of the aboriginal peoples on Canada’s northwest coast at the time of European colonization, told in the context of the Jewish exile from Jerusalem. Children from non-native backgrounds learned a traditional Salish paddling song and gesture of welcome and participated in a drum circle led by native children of the Nu-Chal-Nuth and Cree communities and a Gitxsan elder.
The cast and crew of “Old Song”, some in regalia, pose before our first performance.
“Charlie” of Cree descent, a Grade 7 student at the local high school played a child in exile; Betsy Ludwig, a Gitxsan elder and professional actor resident in Vancouver played an elder in exile.
A specially commissioned piece of art by Ron, a First Nations elder who lives and works in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.